Birthday
by Kurenai0111
Summary: Something had been definitely been bothering Armin recently. It could be seen in his behavior, and his physic too. He was sadder, frailer... Eren and Miksasa supposed that the only way to make him feel better was to offer him one of the greatest birthday party ever.


_Something was wrong._

The signs were subtle and discreet, but Eren was worried. Something was a little off about Armin, recently. He was more and more quiet, the light in his eyes were dimmer… Once or twice, someone asked him if he was okay, to which he answered that he was with a little smile.

A fake smile.

His behavior changed, too. Dark circles under his blue eyes and frequent yawns betrayed a lack of sleep, which he denied too. He would always say that he had eaten earlier and started to avoid his friends more frequently.

One day, Eren and Mikasa had confronted him. "Is something wrong?"

He turned his eyes towards the ground. He waited a few seconds before answering almost inaudibly. "I'm fine, Eren."

Mikasa pressed. "You know you can tell us if something is wrong."

"Yes, I know. Thank you. I'm going to sleep."

Before they could add something more, he had already left. Mikasa tightened her hand around her scarf. "Do you know what's wrong with him, Eren…?"

Eren shrugged. "I don't know… I'm going to sleep too, Mikasa. Good night."

"Good night, Eren."

In a slow pace, Eren went in the dorm room. Armin was already there on his bed, and asleep. He brushed some bangs off of his sleeping friend's face and stared at it pensively. If he didn't want to tell them whatever was going on with him, then fine.

Eren sighed. They would just have to do their best tomorrow to lift his spirit up.

 **FRFRFRFRFRFRFR**

"Can you put that here, Connie? Be careful not to let it fall!"

"Roger!"

Mikasa smiled. The preparations for Armin's birthday were going well, and they even managed to make Levi bake a cake for him, using their soldier's money to buy the necessary ingredients. It was too expensive for only Mikasa and Eren, so they had to ask some people to help a little. And after a lot of negotiation, they managed to have the permission not to train for today.

They had been decorating his dorm room for a moment now. They had all waken up early to do so, long before sunrise. All their friends in the 104th Cadet Corps came, without exception. Ymir and Annie's presence honestly surprised Armin's childhood friends, not expecting them to care enough about him to do something like that.

"Well," declared Eren wiping his forehead, "I think it's good now."

"And the cake's ready too! I just put it in the fridge!" Said Sasha happily.

"Ugh Sasha, you're drooling…"

"B-But I n-never got to e-eat cake before! I-It's going to be the first time! Hee… hee hee… C-C-Cake…"

While Connie and Jean were trying to reason her, Annie approached from Eren. "Why isn't he here yet?"

Mikasa stepped in. "I don't know… He should have come back by now, though. Maybe he is busy."

"Let's wait a little more. He will probably come soon." Proposed Berthold.

 **FRFRFRFR**

After almost an hour of silent waiting, Jean burst. "WHEN WILL HE COME!? IT'S BEEN AN HOUR NOW!"

Reiner stood up and crossed his arms on his chest. "Well, we can't wait for him forever. Let's ask people if they know something about where he is."

After some growls and some sighs, everybody left the room to search information. Maybe someone had seen him go somewhere, or he had said to someone where he would go today.

"Have you seen Armin?"

"…No, not today."

"Do you know where Armin is?"

"Nope, haven't seen him."

Annie asked a young girl who was reading a book if she had seen Armin today. "Armin? Yes, I saw him earlier today."

"Do you know where he went?"

"Hmmm… I'm not sure. He was with a group of young recruits, and I think I heard them say something about the training camp."

Annie raised a brow. "Are you sure?"

"Almost sure…"

Eren rejoined her. "So Annie, any news?"

"A girl said that she saw him with other people. And they talked about the training camp too." She answered simply.

He furrowed his brows. "Why would he have gone there? We aren't supposed to train today. "

"I don't know. What are you going to do? Do you want to check if he is?"

"…"

He pondered about Annie's question. Why would he have gone there? And with whom could he be? All the 104th Cadets Corps were there, so…

"I'll check the camp."

"I'll come with you, Eren." Pressed Mikasa, who had just heard their conversation.

Eren nodded while Annie let out a small sigh. "Okay, then I will tell the others to search elsewhere, then. Tell me if you find him."

Eren couldn't help but grin at her. "You seem to worry much about him, Annie."

A light blush started to appear on her cheek. "Don't get the wrong idea. It's his birthday, I just want to celebrate it quickly and go back to my dorm."

"Of course, of course… Let's go, Mikasa."

Annie opened her mouth, before sighing and leaving the pair. Eren and Mikasa nodded to each other before going to the training camp, where Armin had the most chance to be.

 _Armin… Where did you go again?_

 **FRFRFRFR**

The first thing Eren noticed as he pushed the door to go outside was that it was hot today. Very hot. Too hot for a November day, anyway. He quickly took off his vest and attached it around his hips tightly. "C'mon, why is it so hot today? We're in November!"

Mikasa looked at his actions from the corner of her eyes. "Are you too hot? Take this, Eren."

She rapidly tended him a little bottle of fresh water, which he took gratefully before gulping down its contents. "Thanks, Mikasa."

"No problem."

They started walking towards the camp in silence. Mikasa put one hand on her scarf, a gesture she sometimes did when she was concerned or thinking about something. Eren stared at her during a few seconds before finally asking her."What's bothering you?"

His voice startled her a little. She looked at him with surprise in her eyes, before turning her gaze back to the ground. "I just… Wonder who the persons whom were seen with Armin are. He didn't present us new friends recently. I'm worried."

Eren stopped walking. "Wait, Mikasa… Don't tell me you think that it's-"

" **Hey, hey, what's wrong? It is waaaaaaaay too early for you to start whining, weakling."**

They froze, and strained their ears to hear where the voice they had just heard was coming from. When they finally found its location, they started walking silently and slowly towards it. That is, until they heard and recognized the next voice. "P-Please… T-T-Take me back-"

Although it was just a few words, Mikasa and Eren both stopped immediately.

 _That voice…_ _Armin is there!_

They now started running towards it, realizing painfully that Mikasa's earlier hypothesis was true. A sharp noise was heard before the first voice talked again. "HUH?! What?! I can't hear you! "

Armin's voice was even lower now, making him barely hearable. Although they couldn't see him, they knew that he was crying, and hearing this particular sound was breaking their hearts. "I… It's too hot o-outside… Please let me- **UGH**!"

"There. Your pathetic voice was seriously starting to get on my nerves. What's going on now is your fault, not mine. You know that if you were stronger, you wouldn't be there, so sto-"

" **BLARGH!"**

"AAAH! KIRISHIMA, STAND BACK! HE-"

Eren and Mikasa finally stumbled upon the scene, and they were absolutely not pleased with what they were seeing: Armin was sat on the floor and tied to a tree, curled on himself. He was holding his stomach in pain and shivering, making them guess that the sharp noise they heard earlier was a kick to the stomach that he had received. He was panting loudly, and a trickle of saliva was running down his dry lips. He had probably got a heatstroke, staying in the heat for too long.

Eren painfully detached his gaze from his suffering friend to turn it towards the bunch of young soldiers whom were above Armin. They must have been a dozen, all looking older than any member of the Shiganshina's trio. Most of the group's persons were behind the man who was beating him, making Eren understand with disgust that they were cheering him on to hit him. Just encouraging the beating of a little boy younger than them because they didn't have the courage to do anything else.

One young man who looked like their chief was closer to Armin than the others. Eren's brain didn't care about why he was doing that or anything like that. The only thing it registered was that he had raised his fist to strike. Again.

Before any of them could blink, Eren was already in front of him, and had raised his arm to catch the bully's fist. Now that he was here, not any more harm would fall on the young boy.

Ignoring the gasps and the shock from the group, he slowly raised his heinous eyes towards his surprised gaze. His voice was as cold as Hell itself, sending shivers down to every person's spine. "What did you think you were doing?"

"Tch. So it's you, the monster. The freak that can turn into a Titan… No wonder a monster like you chose to be friends with a weakling like him."

Hurt passed through Eren's eyes, before his look hardened again. "Shut up. Try to insult me once more or harm him again and you will regret it."

The soldier smirked. "Ha! What a kid's empty threats can do to someone like me, huh?"

Eren smirked. "Simple. Something like…" In a swift motion, the man was on the ground. Mikasa her eyes as she recognized one of Annie's techniques. "This."

The others had already escaped at the sight of their leader on the ground under Mikasa's angry eyes. Normally she would have chased after them, but she decided to join Armin.

Eren was now above the man. He smiled darkly before lowering to the bully's ear and whisper tenderly. "Get. Out. Of. My. Sight."

He yelped before scrambling to get up and run away, under Eren and Mikasa's poisonous gaze. Then they looked at Armin, and tried to determine what his injuries were. "Armin. Armin, can you hear me? Look at us."

When he didn't respond, Mikasa gently lifted his head to see by herself. His face was completely red and flushed, and while she knew that staying in the heat for too long wasn't good for him, she never thought that it could be as bad as it was now. Bruises were clearly visible on his face, too. She also knew that he had received a hit to the stomach, and guessed he must have received a lot more.

"Armin? Do you understand us?"

"H-Hot… It's too…I…"

Suddenly His head fell limply, and his loud panting stopped too. **"ARMIN!"**

Panicked, they tried to shake him and to call his name, without success. Mikasa wiped some sweat on her forehead and declared in a concerned voice. "He has passed out. I wanted to make him drink a little, but we can't now that he has collapsed… Eren, cut the ropes, please. We should hurry up and take him back inside."

Eren nodded and placed himself behind the tree before growling. The ropes had so many knots in it that it would probably take a moment to undo them all. Cursing, he grabbed a nearby pointy rock and started sewing them frenetically. Five seconds later, Armin was free.

"Eren-"

"Wait, Mikasa."

He took of his best friend's jacket before taking him in his arms, bridal style. He looked at him sadly before returning his gaze towards his adoptive sister. "He should feel a little bit better now. Let's go."

 **FRFRFRFRFR**

Obviously, Eren's return with an unconscious Armin in his arms caused some reactions. Eren ignored all the questions which were posed to him before going in Mikasa's dorm room to treat Armin's wounds. Once they had closed the door, Eren put gently Armin on the bed while Mikasa begin to search some bandages and some water. "Eren, could you take off his shirt, please?"

Eren nodded and did so, only to notice with sorrow that his wounds weren't light at all. A clear boot's footprint could be seen on his torso, and he had some cut which would need to be disinfected.

"Eren… You're not… a… monster…"

"Okay. I have gathered everything I will probably n- Eren, what's wrong?"

"I… could have sworn Armin just did talk right now."

Mikasa looked at him with perplexed eyes before starting to treat her friend. After some winces and groans, she had finished to treat his wounds. She put a towel in cold water before placing it on her friend's forehead. "I finished. We should let him rest a little."

"N-No… Stay please."

"Armin! You're awake?!" Exclaimed Eren happily.

"Mh-hm."

"Open your mouth: you have to drink."

His eyes were hazy and unfocused, yet he nodded almost immediately. He opened his mouth when he felt a cold bottle touch his lips and drank a few sips of water, pausing between each one. When he had finished, he started sleeping again. His two friends nodded, in silent agreement not to leave him.

After a little less than one hour of sleeping, he opened his eyes feeling a lot better that before. "Are you okay?"

The latter groaned and put a hand on his head. "I guess... Somehow."

"How long has this been happening, Armin?"

He closed his eyes and shuddered. "… Could we talk about _that_ later, please?"

Eren opened his mouth, before closing it slowly and sighing. It was his birthday, after all. Instead of arguing, they should start celebrating. Eren nodded discreetly towards Mikasa, who immediately recognized the signal and left to gather the others.

"Hm? Where is Mikasa going?"

Eren shrugged. "How should I know. She can go wherever she wants. Can you stand up?"

"Y-Yes, I think."

The moment Armin's feet were on the ground, he started falling, only to be caught by Eren. "Sorry."

"Nope, don't wor-"

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

Eren looked at him, not understanding why he was apologizing at all. Sighing again, he put an arm around his waist to help him walk. "Come, I'll help you go back to our dorm."

Armin nodded before putting another shirt on and they started walking. When they arrived in front of the door, Armin stopped, making the duo stop. "Who is in our dorm? I can hear voices…"

Eren growled at their friends' lack of discretion before knocking on the door, making all the voices stop. It was supposed to be a surprise. "Eren?"

His best friend offered him a bright smile. "Open the door."

With a wary look, Armin grabbed the door's handle and opened it slowly.

The first thing he saw when he opened it was a shower of colorful confetti. "What the-"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARMIN!"

He stayed stunned in front of this scene. All his friends were there with smiling faces. He frowned before asking in an uncertain voice. "Today… is my birthday?"

"Of course it is, idiot. You forgot the day you were born? Your stupidity must equal Sasha's."

"Ymir! Don't say that!" Reprimanded Christa.

"Stop picking on her, Ymir!" Growled Connie.

"Hey, I was being nice. If I had wanted to be mean at him, I would have said that he was as stupid as you."

"HEY!"

Armin stayed in awe in front of this show. He wouldn't have ever thought that they had been preparing this all day… "Th-Thank you…"

Reiner grinned from ear to ear. "Don't say thanks yet, Armin. You haven't seen the rest!" He nodded, and Berthold and Annie went out of the room. "Where are they going?"

"Sit down, sit down."

Hands grabbed his and lead him in front of a little table. Not soon after he was sat, Berthold and Annie arrived. Then they all started to sing. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, Armin… Happy birthday to you!"

He couldn't believe what was in front of him. A real birthday cake, with his sixteen red candles lit on it. He barely found his words. "You… bought this…?"

Mikasa put her hand on his shoulder. "We all saved up money to buy all the necessary ingredients. I hope you like it…"

Armin smiled, his smile containing more warmth than they had ever seen before. "Thank you!"

They all then cut the cake, obviously waiting that Armin had eaten first. He felt like the sweetness of the cake was making him forget about the bitterness of his life. Now, he could forget about all the deaths every day, the fear of Titans, the bullying he received. He was just celebrating his birthday, and savoring his cake's slice.

He then cut a piece of his cake with his fork, before staring at it. "Come on, eat it. You're making all of us nervous." Laughed Eren.

He let out a small laugh, before putting it in his mouth. "It's delicious…!"

"Chocolate. Happy that you like it." Said Sasha.

The party started shortly after that. They played some different games, sang songs… The mood was festive, making everybody forget about what was happening around them. Nothing existed right now, except Armin's birthday. It was a great feeling.

It lasted until night, and people started going back to their rooms, once again wishing him a good birthday. At the end, only Armin and Eren were left in the room, both sitting next to each other on a bed. "… It was great, Eren! Thanks for-"

"Two things to ask you. First of all, who were the guys with you earlier? Those who hurt you."

Armin opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. He didn't expect him to change the subject and start talking about the… _incident_ of earlier. "…"

Eren was starting to lose patience. "Armin _, tell me_."

"… They angered me."

Eren looked at Armin, who didn't look back at him and kept his eyes on the ground. "I was passing by, and they… They… How could they say that…? How dared they…!"

Eren frowned as he guessed what he wanted to say. He has heard it twice earlier, after all. "A monster, huh…"

"I… was so angry at them for saying that! I said that it wasn't true, and they heard me…" He let out a humorless laugh. "I guess that's when it all began."

"How long had they been doing this?"

"…They promised not to hurt you or Mikasa if I didn't resist. Not that I thought that you couldn't bear it but…" He whispered. "It's better me than you anyway."

"… Now my second question. Why did you apologize earlier?"

"Because I keep dragging both Mikasa and you down with my problems. I'm like a little boy who keeps being saved by you two. You shouldn't have had to rescue me, normally. I should have been strong enough; I'm not the weak little boy I once was… I shouldn't need to rely on you so often, and especially not for that kind of problems. You are… I apologized because I'm sorry to have made you waste your time again on someone like me who isn't worth it."

Eren lay down on his bed and crossed his arms behind his head, his voice devoid of all emotion. "Look under the bed."

He smiled a little despite the context , this sentence remembering him what a parent would say to surprise their children. He got off the bed, and crouched to see what was under it. He squinted his eyes, and saw a little box covered in a deep green paper. He recognized the object immediately, stretched his arm to reach it. When he did, he looked at Eren, incredulous. He couldn't have done that… could he?

He sighed. "Stop staring at it and open it already, Armin."

He nodded, and quickly yet delicately took off all the paper while trying not to damage it. Probably to keep it as a souvenir for later, Eren guessed.

He opened the now unwrapped box, and gasped at what was inside. Eren closed his eyes, not looking at Armin anymore. "Mikasa and I struggled to find it. It's hard to find books about something you don't know, after all."

"Y-You… E-Eren-"

"No matter what these jerks say or do… Don't ever forget, Armin. You will always be my first and best friend, and have your place here. We will never think less of you for _any_ reason. If you have a problem or someone starts doing things like that to you, don't hesitate to tell us."

"We have already enough suffering and pain to welcome us every day. Seeing allies, friends die around us, or wondering when it will be our turn… The war leaves each of us more sad and broken. Armin… You have the very bad habit not to believe in you, and unfortunately lack self-esteem. And people take profit of it."

"We are your friends, Armin. You won't ever bother us. Neither Mikasa nor I stand to see you suffer uselessly, trust me. Each time we see one of your fake smiles or sorrowful eyes, a part of us breaks. Promise m- _us_. If someone ever causes you problems, tell us."

The blond boy looked at his friend, in full shock. He wouldn't have ever thought that he was caring so much about him. Well, he did, but he knew that Eren weren't usually one to speak like this about his feelings. He knelt on the floor, and looked at his emerald-eyes friend. "E-Eren…"

The latter took off his arms from under his head, turned and lay on his side so that Armin wouldn't be able to see his face. His words and tone betrayed his embarrassment, though. " _N-Now enough of this._ Go to bed; i-it's starting to be late."

"Y-Yeah." He lay down peacefully on his bed, and squeezed the book against his chest. "Thank you, Eren."

"W-Whatever… It's normal. Good night."

Armin made the most beautiful smile he ever did and blushed. "Good night."


End file.
